Friday, 31 March 2017

Frederic Malle isn't letting go of his broad brush. In recent years, the perfumes emerging under his label (both pre and post-Lauder acquisition) have become more voluminous and more robust, to the extent that it's now hard to imagine him giving us something displaying the delicacy of, say, En Passant or L'Eau D'Hiver. Indeed his latest - Superstitious, composed by Dominique Ropion, as part of a collaboration between Malle and Alber Elbaz - could well be his largest yet. And yes, I know I make this claim about a collection which includes the likes of Carnal Flower and Portrait Of A Lady. But there's no denying the scale of this thing, because that is its chief strength and, arguably, its most problematic feature.

Monday, 20 March 2017

It's all too easy to forget that before she had you, your mum had a life of her own. You may have grown used to seeing her just as the person who taught you how to tie your shoelaces, nagged you to tidy your room and gave you an endless hug when you had your heart broken. But there was a time when she had an identity that wasn't connected to yours in any way. She was a princess when she wanted to be, or an adventurer, or a dreamer, a planner, a party-animal, a culture-vulture, or a lover. All those facets of her personality are still in there, although they might not have many chances to show themselves these days. Perhaps they need a bit of a perfumed prompt to bring them out of hiding. After all, there's nothing better than fragrance to help us showcase different aspects of ourselves. So yes, although Mother's Day is the one day of the year when you thank your mum for being your mum, maybe the best way you can do that is to help her find those parts of herself she's long forgotten. Here are some scented recommendations to help you out, all of which have been released within the last 3 years, just to help you stay up-to-date.

Friday, 17 March 2017

Woah! Don't ever let me say that mainstream masculine scents can't be surprising any more. After years of fobbing us off with various editions of the amoeboid dross that is Guilty, Gucci's fragrance output seems to have had a sudden awakening recalling the heyday of the Tom Ford era. What's even more unexpected is that they've slotted it under the Guilty banner and simply called it Guilty Absolute Pour Homme. But make no mistake, this stuff warrants a name of its own. Like some rocket-fuelled thruster burning a swathe through a cypress forest, it burns with patchouli-heavy, petrol-soaked leather notes so incendiary, they must have caused the marketing bods at Gucci to weep into their velvet loafers. How did this whip-smacking beauty get past them? Who knows? But apparently, the newish director of the fashion line, Alessandro Michele, deserves some of the praise. According to the official press notes, he collaborated with Alberto Morillas to bring this unexpected composition to life, providing just the reminder the mainstream needs that no amount of focus group testing will ever replace lucid, artistic vision. Okay, maybe the flames in Absolute don't project far enough - a concession to the pleas of the loafer weepers? - but that's a small price to pay for a startling, impressively linear, long-lasting piece of work that throws down the gauntlet to all other comparable brands. I just hope it delivers the goods at the till, so that Michele is allowed to have his way with the rest of the collection.

[Review based on a sample of eau de parfum provided by Gucci in 2017.]

Friday, 10 March 2017

On the eve of the 7th anniversary of this blog (doesn't seem possible!) here's my next Sixty Second Scents video review. This one is of a perfume which I first brought to your attention several months ago: the rascally Blackpepper from Comme Des Garçons, composed by Antoine Maisondieu.

Finally, I can't let the anniversary go by without saying a heartfelt thank you to everyone who's supported my writing over the last seven years, especially family, friends and all of you: the best readers in the blogosphere!

Monday, 6 March 2017

This year's perfume calendar just became much more exciting: Somerset House have announced an exhibition they're calling 'Perfume - A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent'. In itself, this would have been welcome news. But what makes it even more attention-worthy is the fact that the exhibition has been co-curated by none other than our own Lizzie Ostrom, aka Odette Toilette, author of A Century Of Scents.

More details will be revealed in the coming weeks, but we can already tell from what's been posted on the Somerset House website (click here) that this is going to be much more than a simplistic, superficial commercially-driven gallery of pleasant smells. Crucially, it's going to focus on the role of the perfumer: some of the names posted on the site include Daniela Andrier, Antoine Lie and Lyn Harris.

The exhibition will take place from 21st June to 17th September and tickets are already on sale. All being well, I shall attend it myself (at least once!) and I suspect I'll write about it. Can't wait!

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About This Site

Persolaise.com features reviews of perfumes, interviews with fragrance industry figures and general articles related to the world of scent. The site is not affiliated in any way to any brands, wholesalers, retailers or organisations involved with the fragrance industry.

All reviews are entirely independent. The content of posts is never 'sponsored' by any external agencies.

Some reviews are based on samples provided by brands; others are based on samples obtained by the author. This has no bearing on the content of the reviews.